'Something we can learn from': 9/11 events across metro Atlanta honor those killed 24 years ago

Georgians marked 24 years since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks with charity events, assemblies and memorials to remember the nearly 3,000 people killed in New York City, at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and in Shanksville, Pa.

Both the Mercedes-Benz Stadium and Truist Park in Atlanta hosted stair-climbing activities to honor first responders.

At the stadium, Atlanta Fire and Rescue Dept. Chief Roderick Smith, Atlanta Police Foundation President and CEO Dave Wilkinson and Atlanta Police Dept. Assistant Chief Carven Tyus spoke at the event where participants climbed 110 stories into the stands (2,071 steps), "symbolizing the height of the Twin Towers, in memory of the 2,977 lives lost and the thousands injured in the 9/11 terrorist attacks," a release from its sponsor, Emory University's Goizueta Business School, said.

The Truist Park event honored the 343 firefighters and paramedics and 72 law enforcement officers who "sacrificed their lives in service on 9/11 and honors the first responders who serve our community today," The Atlanta Braves posted on their Facebook page.

The event was a collaboration between the Atlanta Braves Foundation, The Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund of Georgia, and the Georgia Fraternal Order of Leatherheads Society. Proceeds benefitted The Terry Farrell Firefighters Fund of Georgia, which supports first responders in need and their families across Georgia.

Stair climbs were also held in Roswell at City Hall, in LaGrange and in Athens at Sanford Stadium, with other events Peachtree City, Woodstock, Norcross and Henry County.

At Milton High School in Milton, Ga., students, the local fire department and the community came together to plant flags in front of the school.

"Yeah, so what we're seeing is the 2,977 flags all out, laid on the front lawn," junior Jack Mikels, a leader of the event, explained to GPB in a video showing the flags waving in front of the school. "Every flag has a name with a person that perished, whether it was the attacks of the Twin Towers, the Pentagon, or aboard Flight 93, or a first responder at the events. So it's a flag for every person that passed away during that day."

His classmate and collaborator Will Chambers described how the annual event comes together.

"We get members of the community to give their remarks about 9/11," Chambers said. "So that includes the fire chief, the mayor, and the principal. And then, we honor the people that died in 9/11... student volunteers hold pictures and go stand by the flags of people that died. It makes us feel honored to be a part of this, because we know that it's important to never forget about the 9/11 attacks."

Caption

Flags fly in front of Milton High School in Milton, Ga., in September 2025. Each flag represents a person who was killed in the attacks on America on September 11, 2001.

Credit: City of Milton

"One thing people might want to know is that while our generation wasn't alive when the attacks occurred, it's something that we can still learn from," Mikels added. "We pass it down to future generations, and they can continue to pass it down because it's an event that should never be forgotten, continued to be recognized, remembered as just always a day for the whole country or the whole United States to come together in a sense of unity."